CTA wants express link from Loop to airports

Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune transportation reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Chicago transportation officials are proposing construction of a CTA rail station south of the Loop where passengers headed to O'Hare International or Midway Airports could check their bags, then board express trains that would whisk them to the airports.

The proposal, which will be included in Mayor Richard Daley's $6.3 billion plan for O'Hare that would realign runways and build a number of road and mass transit projects, is aimed at eliminating the frustration of getting to the airport.

Travelers would have the option of replacing a trek that can now take 90 minutes or more by bus, car or cab, with a train ride that would get them to the airport from downtown in less than 30 minutes, transportation officials said.

Luggage would be transported on the same train as the passengers, but in a separate rail car that is secured to meet the same Federal Aviation Administration requirements that the airlines must follow.

The strategy, which is becoming common practice in Europe but hasn't caught on yet in the United States, is aimed at improving the experience of Chicago-area air travelers. In addition to easing the trip to the airports, the downtown terminal would also help reduce the long lines at airport check-in counters, city officials said.

The proposal remains largely conceptual. Daley still hasn't identified the cost of the rail terminal or the other transit and road projects he announced in late June nor said how they would be financed, drawing criticism from state transportation officials. The road and transit package also includes extension of the Blue Line from O'Hare to the northwest suburbs, and city officials say that may involve tunneling under the airfield to route the trains to the right-of-way on the Northwest Tollway.

State Transportation Secretary Kirk Brown last week pegged the transit and road costs at more than $2.3 billion.

The new rail station would be located just south of the Loop and make use of the Chicago Transit Authority's two existing subways.

The Midway express trains would follow a route that briefly parallels the Red Line State Street subway south of Van Buren Street before linking with the Orange Line tracks that lead to the Southwest Side airport, said CTA President Frank Kruesi.

O'Hare-bound passengers entering at the same Red Line station would be connected, probably by a high-speed escalator, to the Blue Line's Dearborn Street subway for trains going northwest to O'Hare.

"The State Street subway and the Dearborn Street subway are a block apart downtown. That creates a tremendous opportunity to build an airport super station that would give airline passengers the choice to ride express trains to O'Hare or to Midway instead of driving to the airports or paying for a taxi and dealing with the unpredictability of traffic," Kruesi said.

CTA officials said they are also considering using an existing Blue Line terminal downtown as a second station providing the service to O'Hare.

Rail bypasses

To allow for express service, the CTA would build rail bypasses along the Blue and Orange Lines that would allow the trains to go around slower, local trains that make all stops.

Kruesi said the trip in each direction on the Blue Line between downtown and O'Hare, which currently takes up to 50 minutes, would be cut to less than 30 minutes. The commute on the Orange Line, which has much newer track and half as many stations as the Blue Line O'Hare branch, now takes about 25 minutes and officials said they would hope to shave off 10 more minutes.

Although there is limited available CTA right-of-way on the median of the Kennedy Expressway for rail passing lanes, Kruesi said there are already a number of locations where there are four tracks, providing obvious locations for the bypasses.

In addition, he said an overpass project planned along the Kennedy provides another opportunity for building the passing lanes because overpass support columns could be narrowed to make room for the additional tracks.

Outside rail-savvy Europe and parts of Asia, little effort has been made to offer better services for travelers going from trains to planes.

Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport has a Delta Airlines counter at the airport rail station where passengers can check their bags upon arriving.

Remote check-ins

"No rail systems in the U.S., as far as we are aware, provide for passenger check-ins at the beginning of trips to the airport like you are talking about in Chicago," said Donna Aggazio, a spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association. "In downtown London, you can check your bags at the Paddington station before getting on the train to Heathrow Airport."

The Airports Council International, an airport industry group, said that as part of new terminal projects, the airports in Newark and Dallas-Ft. Worth are planning downtown rail stations where airline passengers can check their luggage and receive boarding passes.

The FAA said remote check-ins, as the process is called, have become common at hotels. Passengers simply step up to an airline counter located in the hotel lobby, answer the same questions about luggage being in the traveler's control that are asked at the airport, then ride in a hotel vehicle to the airport.

"United Airlines does it here near O'Hare at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and at the Hertz rental car facility at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.

"Many airlines are incorporating remote check-in procedures in their security plans for FAA approval," Molinaro said. "As long as the rules are followed, it doesn't matter whether your bags travel to the airport in a limo or on a CTA train."